Mother, Make Me a Cambric Shirt- Wright (IN) 1936
[From Brewster: Ballads and Songs of Indiana; 1940. Brewster's notes follow.
R. Matteson 2011]
THE ELFIN KNIGHT (Child, No. 2)
Five variants, all more or less fragmentary, of this ballad have been recovered in Indiana. They correspond most closely to Sargent and Kittredge A, although, as is usually the case in ballads of this type, all traces of the wooer's supernatural character have disappeared.
For American texts, see Barry, Eckstorm, and Smyth, p. 3 (four variants and two airs) ; Gray, p. 78 (one variant) ; Journal, VII, 228; XVIII, 49, 212; XIX, 130; XXIII, 430; XXVI, 174; XXX, 283; PTFLS, X, 137; Henry, Folk-Songs from the Southern Highlands, p. 31 (fragment).
English texts are to be found in Sharp, Folk-Songs of England, III, 21; Greig, Last Leaves of Traditional Ballads and Ballad Airs, 1-2 (two airs); Baring-Gould, A Book of Nursery Songs and Rhymes, p. 3; Broad-wood and Maitland, English County Songs, p. 12 (with air); Journal of the Folk-Song Society, I, 83; II, 212; III, 274.
The ballad seems to be known locally as "The Two Lovers" or "I Want You to Make Me a Cambric Shirt."
D. "Mother, Make Me a Cambric Shirt." Contributed by Mrs. John W. Wright, of Aurora, Indiana, Dearborn County. January 17, 1936.
1. "Mother, make me a cambric shirt,
Fom a nomanee, cast nomanee,
Without a stitch of needlework,
Keely ope, keely ope, patalai, patempali,
Fom a nomanee, cast nomanee.
2. "Wash it out in an old dry well,
Fom a nomanee, cast nomanee,
Where a drop of water never fell,
Keely ope, keely ope, patalai, patempali,
Fom a nomanee, cast nomanee.
3. "Hang it out on an old bush thorn,
Fom a nomanee, cast nomanee,
Where the sun never shone since Adam was born,
Keely ope, keely ope, patalai, patempali,
Fom a nomanee, cast nomanee.
4. "Mother, buy me an acre of land,
Fom a nomanee, cast nomanee,
By the sea sea-shore, by the sea sea-sand,
Keely ope, keely ope, patalai, patempali,
Fom a nomanee, cast nomanee.
5. "Mother, plant me an acre of corn,
Fom a nomanee, cast nomanee,
And plow it up with an old ram's horn,
Keely ope, keely ope, patalai, patempali,
Fom a nomanee, cast nomanee.
6. "Now, kind friends, my song is done,
Fom a nomanee, cast nomanee;
I hope I've not offended one.
Keely ope, keely ope, patalai, patempali,
Fom a nomanee, cast nomanee."